Leonard David's INSIDE OUTER SPACE

Credit: Image: © Alamy)

Here is another head’s up warning about incoming space hardware – but this saga has a bit of an interplanetary tale to tell.

Peel back space history to the 1970’s, a time of Cold War space race histrionics between the Soviet Union and the United States.

The Soviet Union’s Cosmos 482 was launched on March 31, 1972 and was an attempted Venus probe that subsequently messed up its outward bound, rocket-powered escape to that cloud-veiled world.

Credit: © Ralph Vandenbergh

Now, some 47 years later, leftovers from Cosmos 482 are en route to an Earth reentry.

For more on this story, go to my new Space.com article at:

Failed 1970s Venus Probe Could Crash to Earth This Year

By Leonard David

Space.com Space Insider Columnist

https://www.space.com/failed-soviet-venus-spacecraft-falls-to-earth-soon.html